Is it me or my advisor?

[jgkraor]

Hello, everyone... I really appreciate this forum. This may be more appropriate for the writing forum, but here it goes...

I am a third year student in a PhD program at a large research university in the U.S. I have two Master's degrees in related fields, so I feel like I have some experience in academia (at least compared to other students in my cohort). Until now, I've felt like my writing was decent - not perfect, but not terrible. However, since I started working on my PhD with my current advisor, I've noticed that I've had trouble organizing my papers (particularly manuscripts for publication - not so much for class papers; I get good grades).

I'm thinking this may be due in part to my advisor. She is NOT well-liked by anyone in the department, or any of her graduate students, for a wide variety of reasons. However, I'm unable to figure out exactly what the problem is (other than the fact that it seems I'm not one of her favorite students). I've maintained a good relationship with my old advisor (with whom I did one of my Master's degrees), and we continue to work together on a number of projects (papers). She doesn't see anything wrong with my work. I've gotten some useful feedback from my lab-mates (we all get along pretty well... just not with our advisor), but the feedback I get from my advisor often seems vague and unhelpful. Other students in our lab don't seem to have this specific problem to the same degree.

So I guess I'm just asking if anyone else has had similar experiences and might have some advice. I'm kind of out of ideas. I just feel like the longer I work with my current advisor, the worse my writing (and, as a result, publishing record) gets.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Hopefully I'll be able to repay the favor at some point.

Thanks!

- JG

[Sigaba]

She may be trying to remake you in her own image. Is there any way you can get copies of what she's published and see if she's giving you nudges so you can be more like her?

Simultaneously, you can arrange to have face to face meetings with her so she can clarify her comments. At the end of the meeting, make sure the two of you are on the same page as to what changes you are and are not going to make. If you make the changes she wants and then she still gives you feedback, the dynamic may be more complicated.

Concurrently, take another look at how you're reacting to this situation. While you should be proud of the fact that you have two M..A.'s, they are in different fields. Sometimes, the fact that the fields are related makes it harder (not easier) to adjust to a new field. Could it be that you're bringing interdisciplinary sensibilities and she has a more conventional/traditional approach to the field?

If you've not done so already, you may need to decide that the two of you simply don't have good chemistry and that you may need to find a different adviser. If it goes this way, please make sure that your reasons for making the change have nothing to do with what anyone else thinks of her--good or bad. Base your decisions solely on your ability to work with her AND your ability to work with your new DA.

If you make this transition, I strongly recommend that you remain professional in how you discuss this with grad. students and faculty members in your department. If you make a switch, and someone asks you why, just talk about your relationship with your new DA and say NOTHING negative about your old one. Keep in mind that faculty members have relationships and those relationships can be very complicated. So, even if everyone thinks Professor B is the biggest jerk in the world, that doesn't mean they're going to tolerate doctoral candidate F straying from his lane and running his mouth.

HTH.

Edited September 17, 2011 by Sigaba

[fuzzylogician]

Could it just be that your current advisor has different standards than your old advisor? Not only because you're in a different field, but because you're pursuing a higher degree. The expectations of a PhD student who will soon be on the job market will be inherently higher than of a beginning PhD student, and those will be higher than of a MA student. When someone is at the point where they're producing good results, an advisor may choose to start being very strict about the actual writing (whereas before they might concentrate only on the contents--you have to choose your battles). Structuring a strong argument and presenting it in a convincing way are not skills that necessarily come naturally to everyone, even if they are good writers. At the same time, if the comments you are getting from your advisor are unclear, you should schedule a meeting to go over the comments together. Or, if you decide you really don't get along with her or that her advising style does not suit your needs, I agree with everything Sigaba wrote above about how to go about switching advisors.

Edited September 17, 2011 by fuzzylogician